What Is MXF (Material Exchange Format) File & How to Convert

The Definition of MXF File

MXF (Material Exchange Format), a set of container format for professional digital video and audio media, is defined based on SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) standards. MXF video files are alternatives of actual video tape but in digital format.

This MXF video file format supports full timecode and metadata. That means it allows you to use video contents even in some professional cases like TV broadcasting. An MXF file includes couples of different compression formats.

This uniquity makes it a standard of all digital video formats. For instance, WMV, VOB and MOV that has been introduced in previous articles of MiniTool and some other formats. Of course, you can convert it into different formats such as AVI, MOV, MP4 according to your demand.

The file extension of MXF file is “.mxf”. So, you can also call an MXF file as .mxf file. How about the usage of MXF files? To get the answer, please keep reading the next section with attention.

The Usage of MXF Files

Where can the MXF files be applied to? In fact, MXF files are designed to streamline workflows among different platforms like cameras, digital editing equipment, as well as servers. One of its typical examples of its use is for delivering advertisements to Television stations.

As MXF file adopts a subset of the Advanced Authoring Format (AAF), it enables you to standardize the interchange of video among multiple vendors and platforms. However, you need to remember that you have to get available and appropriate codec to play the media that is stored in MXF file.

Due to the success of Sony eVTR and Sony’s eVTR RDD to SMPTE, MXF is also effective at the interchange of D10 (or IMX) material. In addition, MXF is also utilized as the audio and video packaging format for Digital Cinema Package (DCP).

You can see the MXF in the SRANG specification documents, too. Thought it has so many applications, it also has some issues. For example, there were some issues related to the interoperability with MXF up to the Fall 2005. Certainly, the issue has been resolved now.

When talking about the usage of MXF files, you may wonder how to open them on the device. As this is frequently asked by users, this question is not strange. MXF files are compatible with Windows 10/8/7, so you can open it via the players on the PC.

Here are some steps for opening MXF file with VideoStudio. If you are using this program, you can follow the steps below.

Step 1: At first, launch VideoStudio.

Step 2: After that, select File > Open one by one.

Step 3: In the file list, find and open the MXF file that you would like to open.

Step 4: If you want to edit the MXF file, right click it and from the given menu.

Step 5: Finally, save the edited file.

If you fail to open the MXF file, you need to check if you open a correct file. As some files may have a similar file extension to the MXF but indicating different meanings, you’d better check it carefully.

If you still cannot open the MXF file, you can consider converting it to other formats that can be read and played by the device.

Converters to Convert MXF File to Other Formats

Out of some reaso, you may want to convert MXF files to different formats. Converting MXF to mp4 is a frequent convert way. Since you are unable to convert directly, you need to utilize a converter. The players are different depending on different machines.

For example, File Viewer Plus is only available for Windows PC. Apple QuickTime Player is only suitable for Mac. However, some players like VideoLAN VLC media player can be used on Windows, Mac and even Linux.

Therefore, you have to check if you are using a correct player when converting MXF files.

Final Words

To sum up, this post introduces you the definition, usage, converters for MXF files. Read here, you may have a comprehensive understanding of MXF files. If you are not clear about MXF, please read the post repeatedly to get more information.